Whole Wheat Spice Bundt Cake

The teen requested a spice cake for his birthday cake (which is almost the default cake for him - but sometimes he surprises me).  His birthday was earlier this week but since his Dad wasn't home, we opted to wait for him so we could celebrate together.  We went to a movie and shopped on his birthday and he said he had a good day...but it was a bit strange not to have a cake or presents that day.  He's 19 now, so I guess it was more my issue than his.  He wanted to wait.

The expected return for Mr. Flip Flop was the 10th...on Friday I got a text saying "Lucy, I'm Home!" and I threw on my flip flops and flew down the stairs nearly barreling us both down a flight of stairs when I pounced on him!  I'd talked to him earlier that day and he let me believe he was on his way to work when, in actuality, he was on the 350 mile drive home.  He doesn't manage to surprise me often, but when he does, it's a biggie!  Ian was so happy he gave him a big hug and smile (which is not the norm for him either)!  All-in-all, an excellent turn of events.  EXCEPT, I hadn't planned a cake, wrapped the gifts, nor spiffed up the house as I am wont to do when Papi comes home.  I always like things to look "nice".  I doubt he even notices.  So, since I could do nothing about the cleaning portion of the deficit, I focused on birthday preparations this morning when I got up.  We were going out to dinner, on the island I imagined, and we'd have cake and gifts when we get back.

I decided to go with a recipe that I've made before as mini bundts, but in a full-size bundt pan.  I made one boo boo and used baking powder instead of baking soda, so it was even more dense than expected.  I was freaking out a bit because it wasn't rising as much as I anticipated, but it all came out okay in the end.  This is a very dense cake anyway... it uses 100% whole wheat flour...but the white whole wheat, which is slightly lighter.  I also didn't have regular yogurt, so I used 1/2 fat free yogurt and 1/2 ricotta cheese.  I hate being risky when baking a birthday cake...but I knew if it just absolutely flopped, I had a chance to go to the store and start over.

So, here's the recipe... my husband loved it - ate several pieces.  Ian and I both would have preferred a less dense cake.  The flavor was excellent though!  I particularly liked adding some cinnamon to the vanilla bean glaze I used - perfect for the cake.  If you like a super dense cake - this is a good one.  I would, however, likely use baking soda next time, and not a fat-free yogurt!

WW SPICE BUNDT CAKE

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated vanilla sugar
1 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup fat free vanilla yogurt (I used Dannon) - room temp
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese - room temperature
3 large eggs - room temperature
1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla Bean Paste
2 1/2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I use King Arthur)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (not powder like I used)

Method:

Prepare a bundt pan with Baker's Joy or grease/flour preparation.  Make sure to get all the crevices and go all the way to the edge of the pan and the cone in the middle.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In bowl of a stand mixer, cream both sugars and the butter until fluffy (I let it go about 3 minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add the vanilla bean paste and beat until incorporated.

In a bowl or large mixing cup, whisk together the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt and ricotta cheese until smooth.

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl with the mixer running on low.
Add 1/2 of the yogurt/ricotta mixture
Add 2nd 3rd of the dry ingredients followed by the remaining yogurt/ricotta mixture.
Add the final 3rd of the dry ingredients.

Scrape the bowl and beat on medium high for 60-90 seconds until smooth and fluffy batter.

Use a large spoon to place the batter evenly around the bundt pan.  Smooth it with the back of the spoon.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50-60 minutes.  Use a cake tester for doneness.  The cake was not ready at 50 minutes but 5 minutes later it had cracked (which was fine - it's the bottom) and became perfectly done with a cake tester.

Remove from oven to a cooling rack for about 15 minutes.  Turn onto a cake plate and allow to cool completely before frosting or glazing.

Ian elected a glaze since it was a bundt cake.

I made a Vanilla Bean and Cinnamon Glaze... very tasty with this cake!

VANILLA BEAN CINNAMON GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 cup sifted confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Method:

In the small bowl of a food processor, with the small blade, pulse the sugar, butter, vanilla bean paste and cinnamon to mix.  Begin by adding 2 tablespoon of heavy cream to the mixture and pulse.  Carefully scrape the bowl, avoiding cutting your spatula on the blade, to ensure all of the sugar is off the sides and bottom.  Pulse again and add more cream to get it to the proper consistence you desire.  I wanted a thick enough glaze that it would drip down the side but not so loose that it would pool under the cake.  I wanted it on top of the cake!

The thickish glaze worked beautifully!

Admittedly, not my favorite cake - but it is definitely something I'd make again with a few tweaks (which actually go back to my original recipe!)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

RED-RED VELVET CUPCAKES

My hubby keeps telling me if I don't stop whining he is going to call the waaambulance...and many of my friends offer me cheese to go with my whine.

So, when I was thinking about recipes with wine...my brain kept going to whine.  It's too bad I'm an occasional whiner...because I tend to dislike whiners.  I want to tell them to put their big girl panties on and deal with it!  Sometimes I have to tell myself just that.

Today, however, I'm not talking whine...I'm talking WINE.  flipflop Wine to be specific.  I've had a nice bottle of their 2009 California Pinot Noir waiting to be sampled for weeks now...but I'm not a big red wine fan (not enough of a fan to open a bottle to drink by myself, although I'll happily drink a glass or two if someone is helping or after using for a recipe) but we didn't drink wine last time my hubby was home so here it sits. 

I ran across a blog from a couple of years ago that pictured some red wine cupcakes...and I thought, hey, I could do that...and I could add some chocolate to make it like a red velvet cupcake - red wine and chocolate can pair well...I'll add some cream cheese frosting...I think it's a "go"!  Worst case scenario, it tastes like crap and I drink the rest of the bottle of wine by myself to drown my sorrows.  Win-win!

I LOVE THESE LABELS...the flip flops, the sail fish...just a great look
for a great product.  You know I had to sample it before using it!!!
Very drinkable...and that comes from a white wine fan :-)

I'm basing this recipe, with a few tweaks, on the recipe I found on the blog Scrumptious Photography.  The blogger posted it back in 2009...so obviously cupcakes with wine in them aren't an original thought....but, since I don't see a lot of them posted, it bears trying.  I also used her beautiful idea of placing the cupcake in a wine glass...I'd like to say it was my idea...so creative...but, it wasn't.  So, anyway, here we go.

RED-RED VELVET CUPCAKES
(Red Wine and Red Velvet...Red-Red)

Ingredients:

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white pastry flour
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs - room temperature
1/3 cup red wine (I used flipflop Wine's Pinot Noir)
1/3 cup buttermilk
Red Food coloring - use enough to make your batter quite red

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare cupcake pan with paper liners (12 standard size AND 12 minis OR I estimate 16 standard size cupcakes).

In a stand mixer, mix sugar and vegetable oil to thoroughly combine.  Add eggs, one at a time until incorporated. (it starts to look like batter now) Add vanilla extract. 

the dry goods before whisking together

While it is mixing, in a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients with a whisk. 

all of the ingredients out and ready

Mix red wine and buttermilk together then alternate adding flour mixture and liquids until batter is smooth.  Add red food coloring and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

the wine and the food color and the chocolate make for a deep red color

I use the Wilton unflavored red gel color.  It took about "three toothpicks full"...which means I grabbed as much as I could on the toothpick and quickly plopped into the batter.  That stuff stains so be careful not to plop it on something you don't want it on!

standard cupcakes

mini cupcakes

I used a large cookie dough scoop to evenly distribute the batter between the liners in the standard muffin pan and a small cookie scoop to evenly distribute the batter between the mini muffin cups.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until top springs back when gently touched, or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with crumbs slightly clinging for the standard size...about 12-13 minutes for the minis.  Cool in pan for a few minutes and then move to cooling racks to cool completely before frosting.

hot from the oven

I always like to test one just out of the oven...oh MY they are good!

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 8 ounce brick cream cheese - softened
3 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, add confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing completely between cups and add the vanilla at the end. 

Frost cupcakes after completely cooled!

Cupcakes and Wine...who'd a thunk it?

I just ate one of the minis hot out of the oven.  Nice crumb...really tasty...the chocolate is there and I can tell there's something "else"...it's got just a hit of cinnamon...sort of the Mexican chocolate taste...but still something "else"...yee haa...it's a red wine red velvet cupcake that has just a subtle background taste that no one would know what it was if I didn't tell them.  THIS is what they talk about when they say "depths of flavor".  It all tastes good together...but I would challenge anyone to tell me it had red wine it in!  Wow, how come this stuff isn't more prevalent?  I had to dig to find recipes to "tweak".  I'm so thrilled.  Thanks flipflop Wines for such a great addition to my baking arsenal...now my brain is whirring...I'm thinking about a Pinot Noir sweet syrup...with...something?

You'll have to endure my photos...I had fun taking the treats out to the balcony...

Cheers!

Dolphins, Flip Flops, Wine, and the Bay...oh, and cupcakes!
Life's little pleasures!!!

My reward after baking and blogging :-)
Life is good!
(I had to laugh, I was reading the back of the bottle
while sitting on the deck...it said "sweet spice",
"hints of vanilla", "pair with...chocolate chip cookies".
Soooo, I was right on target and it is a perfect match!
My neighbors were jealous as they looked up at the bottle
of wine on my deck table!!!

No relation to food...just a lovely coastal bird...
I love living on the Laguna Madre :-)

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

RICOTTA VANILLA BEAN POUND CAKE

I made another batch of homemade Ricotta Cheese - but this time I used some whole milk that was on the cusp of going sour...I figured if I was putting vinegar in and making it curdle...why not?  I had two different containers of milk and some half and half and some cream...I just put it all together and followed the basic method of my previous post...same amount of liquid...just different mix-up.  I had six cups of milk products (whole, 2%, Half and Half, and Heavy Cream).  The only difference I see is it is slightly drier...but I did let it drain longer and used a finer mesh cheese cloth.  It tastes wonderful...just like fresh Ricotta should taste!

I considered making the Glazed Lemon Ricotta Cookies but I really wanted something new.  I saw Martha Stewart doing pound cakes on Martha Bakes and thought that would be grand...so I googled until I found a few pound cake recipes using Ricotta...and tweaked them enough to make it mine.  It is awesome tasting, if I do say so myself!  I elected to make a Bundt style cake instead of a loaf.  I really like that look.  Hope you like it!

Ricotta Vanilla Bean Pound Cake

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups of cake flour

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of fine sea salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 cups fresh Ricotta Cheese

1 cup of white granulated sugar

1/2 cup of light brown sugar - packed

3 large eggs - room temperature

1 vanilla bean (split and scraped)

One Recipe of Vanilla Bean Glaze (below)

Method:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F

Prepare a Bundt pan (butter and lightly flour - tap out excess flour).

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt - set aside.

In stand mixer bowl, cream the butter, well-drained ricotta, vanilla extract, and sugars on medium speed until smooth and light - about 3 minutes. Beat eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl afterwards...may look curdly, but it will smooth out with the dry goods. Split the vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds, and blend into the batter.

Using very sharp knife, slice the vanilla pod down the middle. 
I used the back of the knife to scrape with.

Scrape bowl again.  On low speed sift in the dry ingredients (a second sifting). Scrape down and beat until thoroughly incorporated...about 1 minute.

Batter changes from curdly to smooth with addition of dry goods

Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth surface with spatula. Gently tap to dislodge any potential bubbles in the batter. 

In the oven and ready to bake

Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate pan and bake 17-20 additional minutes until cake springs back lightly when touched in the center.  The sides should be starting to pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Sides pulled away from pan - center springs to the touch

Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes and then turn out of pan onto cooling rack.  Allow to completely cool before glazing.

Turned out after 15 minute cooling onto rack for total cool down

VANILLA BEAN GLAZE

Ingredients:

1 cup+ sifted Confectioner's Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean - split and scraped

1/8 to 1/4 cup Half and Half (or water if you prefer)

Method:

While cake is baking, scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean pod into 1/4 cup of Half and Half and whisk together.  (or water is fine too...just get the vanilla bean seeds all loosey goosey in the liquid)

The seeds from the bean pod...black gold...
popped the two scraped pods into a baggie of sugar
to have Vanilla Sugar when desired!

Allow to sit in refrigerator while cake bakes....makes a nice vanilla tasting creamy liquid.



black flecks are the vanilla seeds once stirred into the Half and Half



When ready to glaze the cake, whisk the vanilla milk by tablespoonful into the sifted confectioner's sugar until smooth and desired consistency. Push through strainer if you can't get all the lumps out; you want a smooth glaze.  With cake on rack over baking sheet, drizzle glaze over cake with a teaspoon - allowing it to drip down the sides.  I wanted a thin glaze to nearly coat the entire cake...so I used all the liquid.  If you'd rather "see" your drizzle, use less liquid and make a thicker glaze which will stay mostly in a ribbon-like state.

Twice glazed - took the overflow and re-poured for nice glaze coverage

If you lose a lot of the thin glaze overboard, re-pour the glaze pooled below by replacing baking sheet under cooling rack and pouring from the corner of the original baking sheet over the cake again.  Glaze will eventually soak into cake and leave a very thin sweet vanilla coating - nearly invisible but shiny.  Gently transfer to serving plate (If cake feels too flimsy for any reason when transferring, slide a cake round underneath while lifting with your largest pancake turner - or a fish turner), slice and serve! 

Yummy...ready to serve.  With ice cream, with fresh berries,
with a hot cup of coffee...ahhhh

A scoop of Blue Bell's Vanilla Bean Ice Cream would not go awry on the side... neither would fresh berries and whipped cream.  Actually, if I had some leftover ricotta, I would mix it with some powdered sugar and some vanilla and put a little dollop on the cake slice when served...that would be mighty fine. 

This is a delicious cake...moist from the ricotta, with a crumbly crumb everywhere except where the glaze soaked in...that part is more dense....and very "vanillaey"...I know that's not a word.  But it's gosh darn good and worthy of a made-up word.  Enjoy!

Bon Appetit, Y'all